I just took a pause from a mid-point flight at 23,000 feet between Buffalo, NY and Myrtle Beach, S.C....to say that FSX is truly able to give you much satisfaction, if first, you cut yourself a break, and merely acknowledge that your current setup can't render with headroom all the features that are built into this bird.Having said that, you can MANAGE your present CPU/graphic rendering capabilities by ADJUSTING the sliders for the ***PHASE*** of flight you are in.For example, at 8,000 feet and over, I move ALL the TEXTURE sliders over to the right (max) and have simply drop-dead gorgeous topography to view. Fly over the Rockies, the Grand Canyon, the Blue Ridge Mountains (as I am en route to Myrtle Beach) and see what I mean.I have a Dell XPS Gen 3 Pent 4 3.4 GHz with an ATI X800XT 256 meg video card and am getting a steady 13-20 (locked at 20) with the Textures at full bore) at altitude. Clouds set at default HIGHNothing 'cartoon' about the scenery below!!!!! My point fellow enthusiasts, is that until you get a machine that will allow you to crank, go and forget....as you descend and transist over to final....take a moment, and drop your sliders down to what will give you the best mean average in FPS's to control your flight to the gate. Other than that...at altitude---CRANK THAT PUPPY and enjoy the FSX world that is truly there.....Utilize the sliders to give you the best FPS at any point of your flight logistics. I am doing that..and what a WORLD of difference it makes in the sheer enjoyment of this sim, until I can merely set them to the right and forget about them (the sliders).Try out my suggestion, and I'm totally sure that you will start to relax, smile a lot more with less frustration set in, and enjoy/explore the world of FSX. FSX's rendition of the water (at full right slider) is so good, it makes me wanna book a holiday to the Caribbean...FOR REAL! :)Cheers!Mitch R.

why do you have your FPS locked at 20? Seems that it inhibits your potential... at least it did mine...

Hey Mitch, you might already being doing it this way but the config save/load feature was added to help with what you're trying to do. You can save multiple different slider settings based on what phase of flight you're in then just load each one as needed from the Options | Settings | Load... menu. Just a tip.

I like the save settings feature. I have four of them for different types of flying. I have high quality, quality, performance and X-plane. LOL. The last one gives fluid motion and little detail. Plus you can load and save from within the simulator.(end flight back to menu). Who ever thought of that should get a little extra in his envelope this month. :) ^^^^^^Bob...

>Who ever thought of that should get a little extra>in his envelope this month. :) ^^^^^^I'm glad you like it. That was one of my small contributions to the FSX code base but I'm on salary--oh, well. ;)(And as long as I'm bragging, have you noticed the new Facilities dialog that includes a map view, weather info and print functionality. It's another of my favorite pet features.)

Actually I knew that and hence the ^^^^^^ pointing to your post above mine! LOL!

>as you descend>and transist over to final....take a moment, and drop your>sliders down to what will give you the best mean average in>FPS's to control your flight to the gate. Other than>that...at altitude---CRANK THAT PUPPY and enjoy the FSX world>that is truly there.....I envision how practical it would be when flying in VATSIM. :(Marco

>Hey Mitch, you might already being doing it this way but the>config save/load feature was added to help with what you're>trying to do. You can save multiple different slider settings>based on what phase of flight you're in then just load each>one as needed from the Options | Settings | Load... menu. Just>a tip.---------------------------------You're kidding?!?!?!? I didn't know that was available to me!!!Will CERTAINLY do that, 'T'. I dummy it down at around 8,000 ft for the trip to the gate, and ramp it up full-bore above it.Thank you!Mitch

>why do you have your FPS locked at 20? Seems that it>inhibits your potential... at least it did mine...-----------------------------------------Hi,I went unlimited, and found it to be neither better or less than. I just then went back to the 'default' 20 fps. :)I have found the 'sweet spot' at rendering heavy-metal (full sliders) at about the 8,000 foot level. You see great topography with frames spanning 12 to 20 (locked) on my Dell XPS Gen III Pent. 4 3.4 GB/ATI X800XT 256 mb setup.Cheers!Mitch

>why do you have your FPS locked at 20? Seems that it>inhibits your potential... at least it did mine...Because that the way it was designed to work... Of course, what would the programmers know? ;)

Ermmm, you're frame rates don't 'have' to be locked at 20, that is just a recommended setting.If you can, crank it further right, til you can't crank no more...LOL.

>>Who ever thought of that should get a little extra>>in his envelope this month. :) ^^^^^^>>I'm glad you like it. That was one of my small contributions>to the FSX code base but I'm on salary--oh, well. ;)>>(And as long as I'm bragging, have you noticed the new>Facilities dialog that includes a map view, weather info and>print functionality. It's another of my favorite pet>features.) The HECK with the polls, I say Tdragger FOR PRESIDENT!:-jumpy I posted before that this feature (the save/load settings option) was the greatest invention since they put a head on BEER!:-beerchug I meant it too!!! Mike you keep that kind of stuff coming and before long you'll ownthe joint:-lol Hadn't noticed the facilities dialog, but I haven't got the releaseversion loaded yet...gonna do it as soon as I get the DVD drive installed.

Mike,I've been over and over FSX and can't locate a Facilities dialog... can you, or someone else who knows, point me in the right direction?Thanks!Edit: Ah, you mean the Edit tab of the Flight Planner dialog. I assume that's what you mean when you mention map/weather views and print capability. Facilities dialog threw me.DougDell XPS Gen3 (3.6GHz/800FSB) | 2GB DDR SDRAM | 74GB SATA, 10k RPM (C: ) | 120GB SATA (D: ) | 512MB ATI Radeon X1900XTX (Catalyst 6.8) | Audigy 2 ZS Sound | MS Force Feedback 2 | WindowsXP Pro (SP2) | DirectX 9.0c

>I've been over and over FSX and can't locate a Facilities>dialog... can you, or someone else who knows, point me in the>right direction?Open the map dialog (World | Map menu) and click on a facility.